- CV Laksh on the Tamil rap music industry and his journey into it
From 2015 to 2018, he worked with well-known Tamil rapper Krishan Maheson and was signed to his record label “Kingsouth”.
In conversation with him, he shared that leading Tamil media in Sri Lanka helped him grow his audience by doing interviews and promoting his music on TV and radio play. In 2016, he was given the opportunity to perform in Chennai, India, which was a highlight of his career. CV Laksh has also received many awards in his musical career, and gained success to the point where he now owns his own recording studio.
Brunch had a chat with the musician to learn more about his career.
Here are some excerpts of the interview:
What inspired you to get into music?
In the year 2009, many Tamil songs were released and were rapidly gaining fame and acknowledgement amongst the music industry and fans of music alike. This motivated me to begin putting my own music out, as I realised that there actually is a market for Tamil music in Sri Lanka.
Once I came to this understanding, I started writing my music and releasing it to the world. It gives me great pleasure to be able to spread my culture to the country through my music.
What was the biggest challenge you faced in your career?
In the case of Sri Lanka, artists here do not get proper recognition and it is a great challenge for artists like us, especially if you do not already have connections in the industry, since my music is not mainstream. Moreover, the state of the Sri Lankan economy is the biggest challenge and my own music studio, which I had worked so hard to build for 10 years, was broken into and set on fire by some unknown people. Right now, my current challenge is to work on rebuilding it from scratch.
Which song of yours is closest to your heart and why?
One of my favourite songs that I did is Kuruthipookkal which was released in 2016. I hold this song close to my heart because I wrote it to motivate people that were affected by the war. The song talks about the hardships these people faced, and as it’s something I personally had to experience, a lot of my thoughts and feelings are recorded in the song. It actually became quite a popular song after it was released because of this fact.
What is the procedure behind your song-making?
The content and lyrics that a song holds is the most important aspect of a song. When deciding the story for a song, you need to go into the content and context of the story and those feelings. I first set the music for any song and then begin writing out the lyrics.
How important do you think it is to write original music?
The songs I create will always be a part of me, and I use them as a form of self identification. I've always been interested in creating innovative music in that genre (Tamil rap). The new music system is more popular than the old music system, especially in times of the pandemic when music has taken to virtual platforms and online concerts.
What is the message you want to send out with your music?
As always, my lines and lyrics can bring about social change; that is my biggest goal with my music. I want to send out a strong message and hopefully make the world a better place. I truly hope the lines in my songs can give inspiration to our youngsters that way all the songs I love and hold seay will be understood by everyone.
What is 2021 looking like for you? Any future plans?
There were so many new projects this year, but they were all put on hold, or put out much later than planned because my studio was destroyed. I will fix my studio and start from scratch. For the future, I have plans to put together a band, with a focus on my genre as not many people out there cater to the Tamil market.
As Sri Lanka has only a small Tamil population, the citizens of the country need to support artists from my background. Our Tamil music industry needs as much support as is given to the Sinhala music industry.